Love Is Like War
by MakeYourLifeExtraordinary.93
Summary: Melissa has finally gotten away from her family problems to attend her new school, Welton. When she finds true love and makes amazing friends, she starts to live her own life, the way she always wanted.
1. Chapter 1: Change

I looked around in horror at large front doors that stood before me. From this angle, Welton Academy looked like a detention centre and the horrible uniforms that had to be worn didn't ease my mind the slightest.

It was nothing compared to the previous boarding school I had been at. Welton had just currently completed new renovations to accommodate girls into the school. I was one of their newest female members.

'_As if the guys coped without any girls around,_' I thought as I scanned the crowded court yard in disgust.

"We're leaving now Melissa darling, I hope you have a great year here," my Mother yelled from behind me.

"I will Mother, don't you worry about that," I replied with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. She seemed to notice this and walked towards me with a look on her face which meant '_Don't you try to be smart with me'_.

"Listen to your mother wont you, Melissa," my step-father said as he popped his head out of the driver's side window of his aqua-green Chevrolet Impala.

"Yes Brian," I said, without thinking,

My mother grabbed my arm tightly. "How many times have I told you Melissa? You mustn't call him Brian!" she said to me in a whisper but I could hear the seriousness in her tone.

'_Well I'm not going to call him Father_, I thought to myself.

I was looking forward to getting rid of my mother as soon as possible so I could check this place out.

Mother gave me a deathly stare before she kissed me on the cheek and walked back over to the car.

"Bye darling, see you soon," mother said as she hopped into Brian's car.

"Goodbye," I said as I waved my mother off while trying to force a genuine smile onto my face.

Once the car had finally pulled out of Welton's car park and down the road, I pulled up the courage to eventually walk through the large, wooden doors.

My name is Melissa Tennon and this is my first year at Welton Academy, the first year that girls were allowed to be admitted.

My mother, Ruth, had just recently divorced my father, John Richards. It was a quiet but messy separation. Mother knew as soon as she moved out of father's house, she would have to find a new man otherwise people would start asking questions. A few weeks after the divorce, Mother met and married Brian Tennon, a wealthy lawyer that had everything you could ask for. My mother eventually forced me to change my last name from Richards to Tennon, after many forceful arguments. Just after a few weeks, Brian thought I was getting in the way so he poured in some money and before I knew it, I was being sent to Welton.

I walked though the dark corridors that were bustling with new comers, girls and boys alike. Everything and everyone looked quite unorganised to me.

'_Must be because we have a new principal,'_ I thought. Mr. Nolan, the previous principal, was fired from Welton by the Board of Education, because he went crazy and couldn't handle the kids, so they got in a new principal.

My head was spinning so much as I took in everything that was happening around me that I crashed straight into a dark-haired male wearing a creamy-coloured coat. I realised he must be a teacher.

"Oh.... sorry sir, I didn't see you there".

"Yes, I can see that. I understand, too much to take in all at once," he replied with a smirk.

He seemed nice enough, '_Wonder what he teaches?_' I thought. When he spoke again, it was as if he read my mind.

"I should introduce myself. Mr Keating is the name, teaching English is the game," he said with proud smile on his face as he looked out over the crowd. "Are you studying English this year, dear?" he asked.

"Yes I am, sir," I said and gave him a smile that I hoped he thought was genuine. He didn't seem to notice.

"Well very good. What's your name young lady?" he questioned.

"Melissa sir, Melissa Tennon," I replied.

"What a pretty name!" he exclaimed, "Best be off, I should go check if the new principal needs some help settling in, see you in English tomorrow".

"Yes, see you then," I yelled back to him as he started to weave his way through the large mass of people.

I made my way up the stairs towards the newly-furbished rooms that the girls would be staying in. I found door '_23_' which said my name and another girl's name '_Annabel Wilson'_ in blue letters on a small name plate. I opened the door and stepped into my room.

It wasn't what I call spacious but I could definitely tell that it had potential. My roommate was sitting at her desk looking through pictures, which looked like they were of her family. She didn't realise I was there until I closed the door and she jumped about 4-foot in the air and the photos she held flew out of her hands.

"My God! I didn't realise you were there!" she exclaimed as she knelt down to pick up the photographs she dropped.

"That's okay," I replied "Are they photos of your family?" I asked as I placed my suitcase down by my bed. It looked like my mother had tried to pack the whole house into my bag because it was bulging out at the sides and it looked as though it was right ready to pop.

"Yeah, they are," she said with a sad tone in her voice, "I only just said goodbye to them and I already miss them, it's going to be so different without them". She stopped picking up her photos and looked up at me. I could feel her sadness as I looked into her blue eyes. '_I wonder what it is like to have a family that loves you'_, I thought. I shook myself out of the dream and back into reality.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine here with me," I said with a smile as I knelt down to help her collect the pictures from the floor. I introduced myself, "I'm Melissa Tennon".

"I'm Annabel Wilson, nice to meet you," she replied.

My next comment was interrupted by a knock at the door. We both jumped up and stared at the door.

"Wonder who that is?" I asked Annabel as I stood up from my position on the floor.

"Maybe it's the principal just checking up on us," she replied.

I walked casually over to the white door and opened it to see five boys staring at me. I almost died of shock. '_Why are there boys standing in the door__ way? I didn't think they were allowed up here' _I thought.

Finally, I plucked up enough courage to speak. "Um... can I help you?" I asked as casually as I could.

One of the boys', who was tall and had dark hair, spoke up first.

"We are just here to welcome you to Welton and we wondered if you needed any help settling in?"

"We're good, thanks for asking though," I replied.

"Sorry," the dark-haired boy said "We should introduce our selves, my name is Neil Perry."

"Nice to meet you" I said, as I shook his hand. He smiled and kept talking.

"And this is Meeks, Knox Overstreet, Todd Anderson and Pitts".

Annabel and I introduced ourselves to the boys and shook their hands.

"So" Neil asked, "What do you think of the school so far?"

"Well, we haven't seen much of it yet," I said.

"But it seems nice," Annabel added.

Suddenly we got interrupted by another boy who ran up to Neil and his friends in our doorway.

"You guys have got to come see the girls that are swarming the corridors; I've never seen so many in my life and they are hot," he said with a smirk as a group of girls walked past.

Only after he finished talking, did he realise that Annabel and I were standing there.

"Well hello ladies," he said, trying to sweet talk us.

"Um hi... who are you?" I asked.

"Charlie Dalton's the name and don't wear it out," he said.

'_Wow this guy was a real smart arse,'_ I thought, '_But kind of cute'._ The type of guy my mother would hate.

"Nice to meet you," I said, pretending that I wasn't falling for his charm. He gave me a surprised look, like he really couldn't believe I wasn't falling for him.

"Well, we better go," Neil said "The assembly will be starting soon; we will save you a seat".

"Sounds good," I replied "See you then".

'Hey beautiful, I'll save you a seat next to me," Charlie said and winked at me, as he walked out the door.

I stuck my tongue out at him and pushed him out of the doorway.

"I like them feisty," he yelled out to me from down the corridor.

'_This year was definitely going to be different, but I think I could get use to this_' I thought, as I closed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Once Annabel and I had finished unpacking our possessions and settled into our rooms, we changed into our horrible school uniform for the assembly. Usually the parents stayed behind for the assembly but my mother had better things to do with my new step-father.

'_I would hate to imagine_,' I thought to myself.

Annabel's parents also had some things to do so they didn't make it to the assembly either, which made me feel a little less left out. I retrieved the uniform off my bed and started getting changed. The uniform consisted of black laced shoes, black stockings, a plain grey skirt, a white collared button-up top, a grey sweater, a black and red striped tie and a black jacket with the school's emblem embroidered onto the right-hand side pocket. Once I was dressed, I examined myself in the mirror on the inside of my wardrobe. The uniform made my pale skin look washed out. I made a face of disgust to the image of myself in the mirror. I quickly brushed through my long blonde hair then got ready to face the rest of the students and the new principal in the assembly hall.

The assembly hall was full of noise when Annabel and I arrived. I stood up on my tiptoes to look over everyone's heads, trying to find where Neil and his friends were sitting. Annabel copied my actions.

"Can you see them?" I asked.

"No, we need to get closer," replied Annabel.

I started to push my way through the crowded door way and into the assembly hall.

"Melissa! Annabel!" I heard as we entered the room. Neil was waving at us from a bench on the left side of the hall.

"Over here, Annabel!" I yelled, until I caught her attention, "Neil is over here!"

Finally, she heard me and we made our way over to the bench.

"Hey beautiful," Charlie said, once we arrived at the bench.He smirked at me and patted a spot on the chair next to him.

'_He thinks that I'm falling for_ him' I thought _'Well, let's change that shall we?'_

I looked over to Neil who was sitting on next to Knox. There was a spot next to him on the bench that was empty.

Completely ignoring Charlie, I asked anxiously, "Can I sit next to you, Neil?"

"Sure," said Neil enthusiastically. '_A little too enthusiastically_,' I thought as I sat down. Annabel took a seat next to me and Todd sat beside her.

I carefully looked over to where Charlie was sitting. He had a stunned look on his face that looked as though he had been hit over the head with a chair. I snickered to myself. "_I bet he has never been rejected by a girl before_".

All of a sudden, the wooden doors opened and the teachers walked in, led by the new principal. The crowd went silent. The principal looked like he was in his late thirties. He wore a navy blue suit and black shoes. His ginger hair was swept over into a comb over. He walked swiftly down the middle of the assembly hall and up onto the podium at the front of the crowd. Once the teachers had taken their seats, he began his speech.

"Good Morning Parents, Staff and Students; I welcome you all to Welton Academy," the principal said in a clear voice through the microphone.

"I would like to start by introducing myself to you all. My name is Tony Lennard and I will be replacing Mr Nolan's position as principal."

Everyone gave him a round of applause. Neil whispered something in my ear.

"After this introductory speech, we will have to go through the torture of saying the four pillars," he said.

"What are the four pillars?" I whispered back.

"Just a corny bunch of words," he said and Pitts who was sitting next to him snickered.

"No really, what are they?" I asked again, this time to Pitts.

Pitts sat up in his chair and held his hand to his heart, Neil beside him was holding in fits of laughter.

In a proud voice he said, "Tradition, Honour, Discipline, Excellence".

I had to hold a snicker in myself. "So that's it?" I asked "That's the four pillars".

"Yes, and it's even worse when you have to say them out loud," Neil said "But you guys are new here, so you won't be expected to know the pillars, so you don't have to say them".

"Thank god for that," I said and both the boys laughed silently.

Mr Lennard was still completing his introductory speech when I glanced over to Charlie who was sitting down at the other end of the bench. Our eyes locked for one minute and at that moment I thought I actually saw a hint of jealousy in his eyes, as if me sitting next to Neil hurt him in some way; but it didn't last long, he was soon back to his old self trying to work his charm on me. I just rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to Mr Lennard who was concluding his introductory speech.

"_I'm very proud of my position here at Welton and I hope to help your children in every way possible. Thank you", _Mr Lennard concluded and everyone started clapping.

Neil leant over and whispered in my ear again and said _"Now you will have to witness us saying the four pillars. Oh what fun?"_

I giggled and turned my attention back to Mr Lennard. I waited for a queue from the principal that signalled to them to start quoting the four pillars, but it never came. In fact, it seemed as though he had forgotten that they were meant to say them at all. Mr Lennard stepped off the podium and started walking towards the doors with a chain of teachers following behind him.

"That's strange," Neil whispered to me as people started to leave the room.

"Weren't you meant to say the four pillars now?" I asked.

"Yes, we were… but maybe our new principal has changed the rules around a bit" Neil said and then smiled, "It's about time something changed around here".

Both Neil and I stood up and walked towards the wooden doors of the hall, leaving a jealous Charlie behind.


End file.
